Le Diamant Brut: Young Love & Fanfarlo

Photo from MySpace

Young Love w/ Paper Route, The Always Ready and Visitors
Wednesday, May 20
The Mohawk (912 Red River)
$10, Doors at 7pm
[info] | [tickets]

What’s the Deal: Young Love’s new album, One of Us, released on Island is available for sale at Target, but we won’t hold that against them. To be sure there are countless bands who would gladly sport the red dot. For those who are not already in the know, Young Love is a NYC-based synth rock group whose lead singer, Dan Keyes, fronted the Austin group Recover and gained substantial indie popularity around aught-two. So, if the name sounds familiar, that could mean you were paying attention to your local music scene in the early 2000s. Prior to the release of One of Us late last month, Young Love spent plenty of time playing and touring off the songs of their 2007 debut, Too Young to Fight It, which got them listed in Billboard as one of “2007’s Best Bets” and brought them the attention of the mainstream music heads at MTV.

“The Picture” off the new album is as good a song as any to get your introductions to the band’s catalog. It jumps right off with a dance-friendly riff, grumbling bass line and grooving beat as sweet as hard candy. Enter some synth key swipes and some finely-tuned falsetto, and you’ve got a late night dance party anthem. Hand claps and electronic vocal effects round out the effect of the album, making it an almost irresistible guilty pleasure.

Something Interesting: They’re playing Wednesday at Mohawk with Paper Route, The Always Ready and Visitors.

Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “Get Me Up” and “Black Boots”

Young Love Official
Young Love MySpace

Photo by Daniel Perlaky from MySpace

What’s the Deal: At the very beginning of Fanfarlo’s “The Walls Are Coming Down” it’s normal to check your music player or stereo to make sure you didn’t put in a Beirut CD by mistake. The song begins with some horn blasts and fluctuating vocals that wash in and out like a lonely trip across the sea, which allows for lyrics like “the ships, the ships are coming in” to fit snugly in place. This London-based indie band uses a trumpet, violin, accordion and more in conjunction with conventional rock instruments to orchestrate handsome chamber-pop songs that sound both near and far. Traveling elsewhere on their debut out this year, Reservoir, the band’s full sound comes into view and takes on a language of its own.

Album single “Harold T. Wilkins, or How to Wait for a Very Long Time” features some catchy, cross-gender harmonies, mandolin tinkering, the soft chime of a glock and a foot-stomp of a bass line, all which help make the song a poppy enchantment.

Something Interesting: The video for “You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us” is a stop motion toy chase with no footage of the band included, which is usually a plus.

Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “I’m A Pilot” and “Luna”

Fanfarlo Official
Fanfarlo MySpace